Within a 19 minute window at around half time, Latvian players in the UEFA Euro 2008 playoffs scored four goals to earn themselves a victory against the home team in Iceland. The win puts Latvia in fifth place in Group F.
Latvia was the favourite to win the match as they had already defeated Iceland 4-0 in a match last year. Despite an impressive start with an early goal by Eidur Gudjohnsen, the Latvians, with four victories in the UEFA Euro games already under their belt, proved to be unstoppable.
Oskars Klava scored the first goal for Latvia 27 minutes into the game, bringing the match to 1-1. However within the next ten minutes, Iceland lost its fragile footing, letting in goals by Jurijs Laizans and Maris Verpakovskis.
Just a minute after the game resumed following half-time, Verpakovskis once again scored on Iceland. Gudjohnsen scored Iceland’s second goal but it wasn’t enough to bring his team to victory.
Gudjohnsen was on the team during the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying round. Unfortunately the team played badly, being placed just above Malta in their group standings with only one win and one draw in their ten matches of play.